Happy Birthday, Hairmica!
Fri, 3/07/09 – 12:56 | One Comment

Much to my surprise, Big Guy was a Fourth of July-type person from the start.
His first celebration came at a local college when he was just shy of his first birthday but already walking. Walking …

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Food

Picky eaters and allergy-safe cooking — the two aren’t necessarily unrelated.

Girl Gone Wonk

From policy to politics, this rant’s for you.

News

The day’s events in a family way — unless something else amuses me.

School days

From preschool to kindergarten — so far

Simple Gifts

Inexpensive homemade gifts, creative parties and low-cost projects, for Christmas and beyond. Many are easy enough for children to help.

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Don’t like pizza dancers? SWAT them away
Friday, 3 Jul, 2009 – 11:33 | 2 Comments
Don’t like pizza dancers? SWAT them away

It’s probably a stretch to call pizza dancing an art form, though at least one national chain holds a competition to recognize the company’s best at twirling the board.
It’s also a stretch to call people …

Road tax idea would have Uncle Sam riding shotgun
Thursday, 2 Jul, 2009 – 0:13 | 2 Comments
Road tax idea would have Uncle Sam riding shotgun

Good news for conspiracy theorists: The government might not need its fleet of black helicopters for much longer. Isn’t it nice to see possibilities for economizing in this budget climate?
If a study under way at …

Notion of banning links misses a link in why readers go online
Sunday, 28 Jun, 2009 – 23:03 | No Comment
Notion of banning links misses a link in why readers go online

In about an hour each morning, I can browse five newspapers - two national, two state and one local - without killing a single tree.
When I’m finished with that, I survey a dozen or so …

Yes, Jenny Sanford, you will survive
Saturday, 27 Jun, 2009 – 9:11 | 2 Comments
Yes, Jenny Sanford, you will survive

What kind of dolt, having been caught in an adulterous affair after he leaves a love letter to his mistress lying around, returns to the scene of the crime six months later?
A dolt like South …

Password policy more prurient than practical
Sunday, 21 Jun, 2009 – 22:45 | One Comment
Password policy more prurient than practical

Credit reports, criminal history, references and past employment: All valid information for a potential employer, though credit reports aren’t relevant in all instances.
Anything the employer can turn up online about an applicant: Fair game. It’s …

International politics, kindergarten style
Friday, 19 Jun, 2009 – 22:47 | No Comment
International politics, kindergarten style

The images from Iran caught Big Guy’s eye as I caught up on the news this evening.
“What are the people doing, Mommy,” he asked, partly out of a desire to delay sleep but mostly due …

A SWAT for hunting down people who want to remain anonymous
Thursday, 18 Jun, 2009 – 20:00 | No Comment
A SWAT for hunting down people who want to remain anonymous

It’s a situation so outrageous that even those who don’t like the American Civil Liberties Union are singing its praises.
A federal prosecutor in Nevada wants a judge to force the Las Vegas Review-Journal to turn …

Waiting for the Net to fizzle? Don’t
Wednesday, 17 Jun, 2009 – 18:58 | No Comment
Waiting for the Net to fizzle? Don’t

Been sitting back on your haunches and dismissing this whole online thing as a preoccupation of the kids, the techies and the well-heeled?
You might want to stand up so you can get a clearer look …

Keep looking back - at least a little longer in car seats
Monday, 15 Jun, 2009 – 20:00 | 9 Comments
Keep looking back - at least a little longer in car seats

Now I know how one of my sisters-in-law felt when I asked her not to turn baby Big Guy on his belly while he slept.
Her youngest child was only 6, and her pediatrician always had …

Will Smith, you are hot!
Saturday, 13 Jun, 2009 – 8:47 | No Comment
Will Smith, you are hot!

Sexy is the man who’s man enough to sidle up to his beloved and whisper the hottest words in the English language in her ear: “I’ll take care of the kids, honey.”
Works on me every …

Two months and a needless lawsuit later, Internet access restored
Monday, 8 Jun, 2009 – 23:08 | No Comment
Two months and a needless lawsuit later, Internet access restored

It’s right chivalrous of Education Networks of America to take the fall for officials in two Tennessee school districts that were sued after they banned students from accessing Web sites with information about lesbian, gay, …

A SWAT for catching drug dealers by punishing consumers
Thursday, 4 Jun, 2009 – 20:30 | No Comment
A SWAT for catching drug dealers by punishing consumers

Isn’t this just what we need in this economy: Legislation that would put a common over-the-counter medication back behind the counter to keep it out of the hands of those who abuse it.
Technically speaking pseudoephedrine …

Clearing the way to scorch the earth
Monday, 1 Jun, 2009 – 20:45 | 2 Comments

Is this what you really wanted, Californians, when you stayed home in droves two weeks ago from a special election?
Did you really intend to send the message that massive and debilitating budget cuts are the …

Peanuts and pets at altitude
Friday, 29 May, 2009 – 22:34 | 2 Comments
Peanuts and pets at altitude

Want to kick off a cat fight? Confine hundreds of people in a cramped, narrow tube 30,000 feet above the ground and put them in proximity to something they can’t stand.
In the case of Southwest …

A SWAT for getting involved in a college prank
Thursday, 28 May, 2009 – 21:11 | 5 Comments
A SWAT for getting involved in a college prank

He’s a hacker considered “a master of the trade amongst his peers.” He even had two operating systems on his computer and used a prompt to issue commands!
Therefore, in January police in Boston had to …

Why sleep at night? Isn’t that what school’s for?
Wednesday, 27 May, 2009 – 20:00 | No Comment
Why sleep at night? Isn’t that what school’s for?

Multitasking ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Particularly for this generation of teens, which learned the art of the overload practically from the cradle.
Take a few electronic gizmos - say, a computer and a …

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone about the salmonella
Tuesday, 26 May, 2009 – 22:09 | No Comment
Shhh! Don’t tell anyone about the salmonella

Setton Pistachio’s stupid manufacturing trick isn’t quite in the league of Peanut Corporation of America, which knew its products were tainted with salmonella but shipped them anyway.
At least Setton reroasted pistachios that tested positive for …

A SWAT for wasting money - for the children
Friday, 22 May, 2009 – 0:55 | No Comment
A SWAT for wasting money - for the children

You just gotta love California, though I suspect the state’s predicament is more amusing to residents of the other 49 than it is to those of us who live here.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature …

Falling with style: If bots can master it, why can’t I?
Thursday, 21 May, 2009 – 23:18 | No Comment

On one level, it’s simple: When you’re about to fall, just let go and fall. Trying to stop the tumble or, even worse, flailing your arms and legs as you land will make it worse.
Somewhere …

Do not stand between teens and their math teacher
Wednesday, 20 May, 2009 – 23:57 | 2 Comments
Do not stand between teens and their math teacher

School board members in a tiny California town learned a new type of political calculus this week:
Former pro football player turned popular math teacher (+ bizarre allegation of plagiarism  and - tenure) X 115 irate …

Reason No. 3,542 the Brits are bonkers
Tuesday, 19 May, 2009 – 0:56 | No Comment

From the country that wants to censor the Internet worldwide in the name of protecting its children comes another bizarre project, also in the name of “protecting children”
The British have launched a database, at a …

Children suffer from mom’s stress - no kidding
Monday, 18 May, 2009 – 0:52 | No Comment
Children suffer from mom’s stress - no kidding

If there’s an up side to a recent spate of studies looking at the impact stressed moms have on kids, it would be that researchers are starting to take seriously what’s been whispered at water …

Maybe pink’s not just for girls after all
Saturday, 16 May, 2009 – 22:04 | No Comment
Maybe pink’s not just for girls after all

Too bad that one of the last things Dad did before leaving for basic combat training was to toss his collection of pink undies. It now appears that they work quite nicely as military wear.
Well …

Don’t you just love being a cliche?
Friday, 15 May, 2009 – 23:52 | One Comment
Don’t you just love being a cliche?

The salesman where I bought my Blackberry cost himself a bit of extra commission last week when he included a hot pink cover in the pile of accessories he was pushing on me.
Even Big Guy …

An extraordinary life
Friday, 15 May, 2009 – 22:15 | No Comment

Six hundred and eight three killed in Afghanistan. Four thousand, two hundred and ninety six killed in Iraq. Many stories of incredible lives, often amazing sacrifices.
This is one such story.
Army Maj. Steven Hutchison survived two …

Love and marriage equals more housework
Thursday, 14 May, 2009 – 1:48 | No Comment
Love and marriage equals more housework

From the file of statistics with no obvious explanation:
The average single woman and the average single man spend 20 hours combined doing housework. But once the “I do’s” are done, that total balloons to a …

At least your office fridge didn’t send you to the hospital
Tuesday, 12 May, 2009 – 20:51 | No Comment

We’ve all been there - the office refrigerator were forgotten lunches take on lives of their own, rotting, curdling and fermenting until the odor creates a better appetite suppressant than anything on the market.
Few of …

E-mailoholics, raise your hands. But only if you can quit typing long enough
Monday, 11 May, 2009 – 23:07 | No Comment

There are two types of people: Those who can leave work at work and those who are surrounded by it 24-7, minus a few hours for sleep.
A new study from Yahoo Research confirms that, no …

Wi-Fi not working? Blame the new parents
Monday, 11 May, 2009 – 22:33 | No Comment
Wi-Fi not working? Blame the new parents

One paranoid parent could screw it up for an entire neighborhood.
That’s according to the latest out of Britain, where a report by wireless experts Mass Consulting says that interference from a single baby monitor or …

It’s not Big Guy’s fault he’s a sexist
Tuesday, 5 May, 2009 – 23:52 | 2 Comments
It’s not Big Guy’s fault he’s a sexist

Suddenly, it’s crystal clear why Big Guy declared recently that when he grows up and becomes a pilot, Dad will be his air marshal and I’ll serve the snacks. No word on what role Boots …

Bugged by hard rock? You’re not alone
Wednesday, 29 Apr, 2009 – 0:47 | No Comment
Bugged by hard rock? You’re not alone

Troops have used David Bowie to get Manuel Noriega to surrender and Barney to get  Gitmo prisoners to talk.
And then there’s the New Zealand town that thinks Barry Manilow will eradicate mall rats.
The latest entry …

I don’t want to see your butt, but I’ll defend your right to show it
Sunday, 12 Apr, 2009 – 23:09 | No Comment
I don’t want to see your butt, but I’ll defend your right to show it

How low should  sagging pants go? It’s the type of debate that always erupts when fashion trends butt into generational sensibilities.
I’ll admit, rear views exposed in public bother me, whether it’s a woman whose rump …

Reach out and text someone - 20,000 times a month
Friday, 10 Apr, 2009 – 23:16 | No Comment
Reach out and text someone - 20,000 times a month

Dad, you are forgiven for consistently running up overage charges even though you swore for months that you’d quit yapping and there was no need to go to a more expensive plan that would save …

What goes up will come down: Here’s hoping we remember this time
Saturday, 4 Apr, 2009 – 0:45 | No Comment
What goes up will come down: Here’s hoping we remember this time

By the time the guys were 3 they’d learned that sooner or later their pretty balloons would pop if I gave in to their pleas to blow it bigger. It took a few bouts of …

Consumers win round in credit-card shoot out, but it’s not nearly over
Wednesday, 1 Apr, 2009 – 0:22 | No Comment
Consumers win round in credit-card shoot out, but it’s not nearly over

If you hold your breath every time a letter arrives from your bank and pray it’s not telling you your credit-card interest rate is about to skyrocket, don’t exhale just because Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd’s …

Bummed out? It’s really not the media’s fault
Monday, 30 Mar, 2009 – 2:49 | No Comment
Bummed out? It’s really not the media’s fault

The headline - Feeling stressed? You can combat the worry line - was enticing enough that I clicked.
It included some interesting anecdotal nuggets about how the economy has taken its toll on our health - …

The era of the 14-year-old sex offender
Friday, 27 Mar, 2009 – 22:18 | One Comment
The era of the 14-year-old sex offender

Coming to a town near you: The arrest of a teen on child pornography charges for taking pictures of herself.
It happened again this week in New Jersey, when a 14-year-old was arrested after posting nude …

He’s not scatterbrained - he’s 3
Thursday, 26 Mar, 2009 – 1:12 | No Comment
He’s not scatterbrained - he’s 3

Maybe Boots is not just on a mission to explode my head and make Big Guy late for school every morning when he wails “I can’t remember my shoes.”
Turns out he’s not just being whiny …